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Picked up my Infuse up at BestBuy on May 15th, the release date. After 1 week, I've had these problems:
Main problem is that GPS sucks. I had specifically tried to get a smart phone to ditch my GPS navigator. This phone isn't it. Long times to fix, sometimes *never* producing a fix. If there is no network (away from civilization, no wifi or cell), there's often no fix, ever. This problem alone is probably enough for me to take it back. Does anyone know what the GPS implementation is in the Infuse? If it is a Broadcom chipset, that would explain it!
Wifi signal strength seems weak. In places where my laptop gets full bars, it gets half that. In places where my laptop gets two bars, it sometimes can't connect or it intermittently drops. This is very annoying.
Cell signal strength seems a bit weak, too. My old phone gets consistently one or two bars more. Cell data seemed not as strong, too.
I tried the HDMI adapter. It showed video fine, but failed to send audio to my TV. I know the TV is capable of HDMI audio from other sources. Oh well.
While driving with the device on sunny day, the screen was dim and hard to read. Found out the display brightness was low in auto mode. So I put it on manual, but it refused to allow full brightness, saying "Display brightness limited due to temperature" or something to that effect. So, you can't have full brightness in sunlight when you need it most? I suspect anybody who tries to use the car dash mount is going to run into thermal limiting problems, making that use impractical. Maybe if you get a white skin to keep the solar gain down. The thermal design isn't apparently good enough to get the heat out.
Otherwise, the phone seems pretty good, but my issues are high enough to have me contemplating a return.
I'll note that the Galaxy S II is reported to have a new GPS chipset, SirfStarIV, which sounds like a significant upgrade to the GPS system. But, not yet released in the US. Sigh.
How does one determine the GPS chipset in a phone?
Thanks for any help.
I've had a few issues with the phone also but you don't really expect your cell phone to get the same wifi signal as a full blown laptop do you?
Wow, seems as the Infuse does not meet your expectations. Question, If not the Infuse then what would be your next line up of devices?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using XDA App
These are also my big issues, its definently the best ATT handset minus the antenna, I keep missing calls if its in my pocket and the wifi is really buggy.
DarkH2O said:
I've had a few issues with the phone also but you don't really expect your cell phone to get the same wifi signal as a full blown laptop do you?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I make no apologies for having high expectations.
The wifi circuitry inside a phone should be as good as any that is inside a laptop. That leaves only the antenna as the prime issue for wifi performance. I can understand losing 3 dB, maybe 6 dB over a well designed laptop, but not 20 dB. That's severe incompetence in antenna design.
I've seen other smart phones do significantly better than the Infuse with regards to wifi.
pixelkore said:
Wow, seems as the Infuse does not meet your expectations.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In those areas it isn't. I am particularly sensitive to GPS performance for my needs.
Question, If not the Infuse then what would be your next line up of devices?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Atrix is noted to have good GPS performance. I've been advised that Motorola is less friendly to things like rooting and ROMs than Samsung, though.
The HTC Inspire seems to have similar weak GPS problems.
The Samsung Galaxy II S (Attain on ATT?) is said to have a new GPS engine so that is what I hold out hope for. I may just return the Infuse and wait for that to come out and hope the GPS is improved.
I have had similar issues as well. Having a normal temp around 105° is high for any phone. It causes my screen to flicker constantly during game play. I expected something like an oversized captivate, which I got. I will switch to the gs 2 when it is released.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using XDA App
mciholas said:
I make no apologies for having high expectations.
The wifi circuitry inside a phone should be as good as any that is inside a laptop. That leaves only the antenna as the prime issue for wifi performance. I can understand losing 3 dB, maybe 6 dB over a well designed laptop, but not 20 dB. That's severe incompetence in antenna design.
I've seen other smart phones do significantly better than the Infuse with regards to wifi.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I get great speeds with my router. It's set to only n and I pay for 30 /5 and get that on land line and with phone I get 16-20 down and 4-5 on up...
sent from Infuse but miss my captivate on cont. 5.5.... One day this can be as good...
chvybeatsford said:
I get great speeds with my router.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Speed is not the issue, I get great speeds when close to my access point. The issue is lack of range and an unstable link.
I have to be in the same room as the access point, or maybe one room next to it, to get a reliable wifi connection on the Infuse. Other wifi devices work fine throughout the house.
My GPS units will get a lock in any room of the house. The Infuse GPS will not get a lock in any room of the house and takes a long time even outdoors.
I also get good range. May be my house but I can get great speeds in the garage. And the router is 3 walls and about 35ft. Also get good rec. Out side across my yard. (60ft.).
Not the best signal but 2bars.about 6mb.This is. Brand New house with the router about in center of floor plan.
sent from Infuse but miss my captivate on cont. 5.5.... One day this can be as good...
my captivate got better reception and didnt get as hot with heavy wifi usage. but you cant have everything.
i wouldn't get it because of the bad gps. i guess samsung forgot to put a gps antenna in it like they did with the rest of the galaxy s phones.
I love my infuse, my only issue is that 2 or 3 times so far, the phone starts playing music from my library without a music player opened. I've checked all my notifications and they are all set to what I want. Only thing i can think of, it's playing music to let me know my battery is full. My captivate used to beep, if its not the battery then i have no clue. no alarms are set, calenders have alerts turned off, sms is set to what I want, I don't know lol
Rldowney said:
I have had similar issues as well. Having a normal temp around 105° is high for any phone. It causes my screen to flicker constantly during game play. I expected something like an oversized captivate, which I got. I will switch to the gs 2 when it is released.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How are you going to upgrade? Just off contract purchase?
I don't have any issues with my GPS. I have been using the phone and testing it our for almost 2 weeks now and have not had any issues with it using Google Maps or Google Navigator. I would put it on par with my Atrix where the GPS is phenomenal on it.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using XDA Premium App
Wifi issues
mciholas said:
I make no apologies for having high expectations.
The wifi circuitry inside a phone should be as good as any that is inside a laptop. That leaves only the antenna as the prime issue for wifi performance. I can understand losing 3 dB, maybe 6 dB over a well designed laptop, but not 20 dB. That's severe incompetence in antenna design.
I've seen other smart phones do significantly better than the Infuse with regards to wifi.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had to return my Infuse due to the poor wifi reception. I had it side by side with my old iPhone 3G a couple rooms away from the router. The Infuse dropped wifi completely and I lost internet connectivity while the iPhone was happily chugging along.
It's a gorgeous phone and I was sorry to send it back, but not being able to keep wifi connectivity when compared with a 3 year old iPhone was a dealbreaker.
gPS
I rooted My infuse and installed faster fix and north america and my gps works perfect now it lock way faster then my htc inspire does i have noticed the phone gets warmer than others but i have only had it about four hours now so we will see
My gps using maps and navigation work perfectly, the only time i've noticed it getting hot is when I have it on the car dock, but, the thing is black and my car is old so everything is hot in it... i'm grandfathered into unlimited so I can't speak on the wifi cause I dont use it
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using XDA App
jdonnell said:
I had to return my Infuse due to the poor wifi reception. I had it side by side with my old iPhone 3G a couple rooms away from the router. The Infuse dropped wifi completely and I lost internet connectivity while the iPhone was happily chugging along.
It's a gorgeous phone and I was sorry to send it back, but not being able to keep wifi connectivity when compared with a 3 year old iPhone was a dealbreaker.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I'm gonna follow suit , this phone is an attrocity in every single way
1 - Touch the phone frame with two fingers , wifi and phone signals drop by 3/4ths which is RIDICULOUS ... there is no 4g and the hspa+ system should go and suck an Elephant's left NUT
2- Gps lockon takes more than 10 minutes ... again I'm screwed if I'm in a rush + no TomTom
3 - No gingerbread ?? . . . F^K you samsung seriously ... Ice cream is up next within the next 2 months and not even one dev on the internet was able to come up with custom firmware (No offense to any devs , I know you guys are awesome and work your @$$es off... so props to you for devotion and work always but patience is not my virtue)
4 - Single core is kinda painful to bear when you know quad core & 3d phones are being released very soon
5 - No apps that can use the front face camera (AS FAR AS I KNOW) so again why bother even giving this to us ?, Samsung you guys might as well have given us a dual core with one of the cores shut off.
6 - THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT ... call quality / microphone is ATROCIOUS ... In my quiet bedroom at night with no audio disturbances my gf is telling me every 5 seconds that she can't hear me and that pisses me off so badly. I've tried with at least 10 other people all giving me same bs. So I have to yell at my phone like a walky talky .... so sad
If you bought this phone from costco you can do 2 things guys.
Either return the phone and stick with w/e u had b4 until the good stuff comes out or wait 90 days and pray something decent comes out by mid august.
I'm returning mine and returning to my Iphone 3g ( as old as it may be and dinged up it still is dam reliable )
sonkameja said:
3 - No gingerbread ?? . . . F^K you samsung seriously ... Ice cream is up next within the next 2 months and not even one dev on the internet was able to come up with custom firmware (No offense to any devs , I know you guys are awesome and work your @$$es off... so props to you for devotion and work always but patience is not
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay. I hate getting worked up by people....but seriously? The phone has now been out for FOURTEEN DAYS!! Dont use "lack of dev work" as an excuse to take your phone back. I understand your frustrations, but just take it back and stop feeding this thread.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using XDA App
Is anyone else having reception issues with the HTC sensation I had previous HTC and have all suffered from this problem I thought by now they would have sorted this issue out.
Also I have used the camera a few times and the phone just turns off.
My signal is full. Someone mentioned in another threat he replaced sim card and problem solved.
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using XDA App
Sounds like a faulty unit to me.
I have same problem - in my room it tends to go from 1 bar to full all the time - downstairs its goes from on to off all the time, rather annoying !
Got a brand new sim card so cant being that, but so many people
have complained about it cant be one fault handset - its just
faulty design maybe??
This is my second unit and I have tried 3 different sim cards no change. This is what made me take back the original HTC Desire. Looks like this is going back all previous phones I would get 3G in my home and work now I am getting gprs or Edge in the same locations.
I have missed a few calls tonight because of the handset reception goes to none.
just popped my t-mobile sim in it and it seems fine -
it bounces up and down but by 1 bar maximum!
Got my brothers sony play on vodafone - hes getting 4 bars when im getting 0-3 bars.
So maybe it some kind of interaction between vodafone signal and this phone???
said it before will add again i get poor reception (gprs) with vodafone sim but great/better with t-mobile sim. Gonna request new sim. put sim in my desire and get the same response. must be the sim. i also think a new radio update would fix the reception problems. if HTC unlocked the bootloader we'd know for sure.
Mines been playing up signal wise, ive just taken the sim out and put it back in and its working alot better. Weird.
Interesting. I'm a new Voda customer and I have appauling reception now where I had a good one with O2. However signal goes on and off all the time.
My phone also reboots if I take more than a couple of photos.
All sounds like software to me but I'm going to try a new handset and if that fails maybe change to Samsung, not happy with HTC pushing out such poor software on a cutting edge phone, who tested it???
Yeap, rubbish reception. Keeps coming and going even in the same location!
Awful!!!!!
Just to throw in my experience with it;
I'm getting identical performance to what I got on my Nexus One (also on Vodafone obviously, you can't compare signal on one carrier against another and blame it on the phone...)
1-2 bars of HSPA in my home in Bristol
3-4 bars of HSPA in my home in Cardiff
3-4 bars of Edge in my friend's house in Cardiff
Signal on the train journey Bristol-Cardiff also the same. HSPA through Newport, Edge/GPRS through a lot of the fields and nothingness. I do the journey a lot so I know the sections where I can load up a new article or webpage
So far it is identical to what I've been getting for the last year and a half with the N1. I know there were signal issues with the N1 when it was released but those were solved with updates from Google and more stuff in custom roms. I honestly don't have any experience of any issue affecting the Sensation's signal.
I was with T-Mobile when I had my Desire, and now I've moved to Vodafone for my Sensation. Reception with Vodafone is better everwhere that I've been so far, and I see the "H" connection symbol more frequently. However, I do get the "rising and falling signal bars for no particular reason" problem that others are seeing, but it's no worse than I experienced for the 14 months that I had my Desire.
I called Vodafone earlier about the numerous issues with the Sensation, this being one of them. Apparently there have been some reception issues in and around London in the last few days (they tracked my calling location when I called them, stalkers) but should now be resolved. I seriously doubt this is the issue as I had no reception while the phone was sat next to an unmentionable other device on Vodafone which had full signal.
They told me to take it into a store to discuss the issues before returning it within the 7 day period, which I will do at lunch time, but I have zero expectations for this!
mine has been fine tbh, more or less always 3 or 4 bar. does drop for no reason sometimes... but not often at all. only problem i have had so far is the wifi not working properly sometimes
Yet another phone that can do everything except phone calls?
Average/mediocre signal would be a huge drawback. I will wait for some more feedback, otherwise I will opt for another device, even though I have never had any doubts until this issue arose.
ok - been testing at work as we are a vodafone buisness company and have about
200 htc trophy sitting in our cupboard.
got one out with my sim card, a old vodafone one and brand new vodafone one.
Walked round the whole building phone to phone and the
htc sensation was actually stable reception, better then the htc trophy. (though only a bar difference)
There i have conclude my issue are where i live the reception.
(Though im going to do more testing at home tonight with my pro sony play)
I was curious, vodafone do a signal boost, but its £50 for those under £40 month contract.
Has anyone had any success with getting the price down on these?
I would happily pay £20 for one if i knew it would give me full signal around my house.
Im so happy with the phone i dont want to return it !
I'll post later about my tests
I politely said to the nice lady in the Vodafone shop I didn't want to buy a sure signal as a new customer and that I was on a high contract. I paid £20 but its taken off my 1st payment so got it for free. If it supposed to get perfect signal in your home and they check before you sign up then its only fair.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA Premium App
Ps I get perfect signal with the thing. Using it now to post. Pity it I can't use it at work.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA Premium App
Phone is now in the process of being returned to Vodafone. Great phone let down by poor reception :-( The lady on the phone said they have had a few returns of late for the same reason so I know im not the only one. Looks like it will be back to my old phone till I find something that takes me fancy.
From other reports (lots) the phone signal is unreliable and I dont think its just a network issue. I can watch mine go from full to nothing and back up again without moving or touching it. I have the camera->reboot issue on mine too that others are reporting so I think there's a bad batch. I'm replacing my handset today with little hope of it being different. I also know someone with a Sure Signal (£20 in store) who has had no problems at all. I'm on a 40/pcm deal so going to push for one for free for the hassle of going back to the shop but I get the same signal issue pretty much everywhere, including central London earlier this week.
Very disappointing start with Vodafone and with my 7th or 8th HTC phone. I really wish I'd kept my Desire now until this model had been out for a few months, lesson learned.
I just tried to make the switch from at&t to t-mobile. I had my sensation for about a week, and just returned it this morning.
Reasons I loved the sensation.
Decent battery life *(not as great as everyone made me expect.
Awesome Camera, especially outside- I really could see myself using this phone as a replacement for a cheap point and shoot.
The hardware was pretty much all around fantastic. Great feel in hand. A ton thinner than the evo 3d, especially around the edges. This phone has such a nice shape that it almost gets lost in my pocket. I actually found myself grabbing my pocket to make sure it hadn't fallen out.
The wifi-calling was a great value add.
The screen was fantastic. My next phone will have to have a qhd or better display (no sgsII for me). Say what you want about contrast ratios, but I rarely use my phone outside. Having the extra pixels however was absolutely awesome for browsing the web. The extra pixels also made living without a hardware keyboard a little bit easier to bare *(when in portrait mode).
The unlock page that came with sense 3.0. Other than that sense just seemed to get in my way.
FM radio. I'm the guy who wants to watch and listen to the tv-s at the gym.
Why I just couldn't risk spending 2 years with it.
I had no reception at my house or work on t-mo. This is really the biggest reason why I had to return my phone.
Because of the above the cell radio was draining the battery attempting to connect to the networks. I really don't want to spend two years having to remember to turn off the cell radio every time I get home.
T-mobile support was an exercise in frustration to deal with.
Will I still even get 3g/4g service in 2 years? This is debatable. AT&T will have to repurpose some of T-mo's spectrum from somewhere.
The built-in picasa upload is broken *(I use this all the time).
No way to jump to the galery app when in camera mode. This seems like a really obvious omission.
The speakephone volume over wifi calling really shouldn't be considered a speakerphone at all. I couldn't test speakerphone over t-mo because I never had reception when I wanted to make a call.
There was no setting to auto disable the cell radio when connected over wi-fi and wi-fi calling was enabled. I admit this is a nit-pick, but it really would have been nice.
I counted at least 3 backup apps all of which were trying to send my contacts to different parts of the world. Why do I need to backup any of my contacts? For me everything is in google, that's why I want an android phone. The killer part about this is that these apps will suck your battery dry.
Currently no way to remove all the crap-ware that t-mo stuffs it's phones with. There is a lot of it. I bet that is why there is so much discussion about the a performance problem between the sensation and the evo 3d screen rotate speed.
No NFC. Not really a deal-breaker, but it is disappointing.
So give me a non-bloatwared, boot-loader unlocked sensation, add NFC, put it on a carrier that gives me reception, and I'll have my next phone. As for now I'll have to live with my rooted/ cyanogen-modded G1 on AT&T.
--troll away!--
npoc said:
Why I just could risk spending 2 years with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you accidentally a conjunction in there
xnifex said:
I think you accidentally a conjunction in there
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lulz irony abounds, he missed a conjunction and you omitted a word from your sentence, pointing out his omitted conjunction @[email protected]
npoc said:
I just tried to make the switch from at&t to t-mobile. I had my sensation for about a week, and just returned it this morning.
Reasons I loved the sensation.
Decent battery life *(not as great as everyone made me expect.
Awesome Camera, especially outside- I really could see myself using this phone as a replacement for a cheap point and shoot.
The hardware was pretty much all around fantastic. Great feel in hand. A ton thinner than the evo 3d, especially around the edges. This phone has such a nice shape that it almost gets lost in my pocket. I actually found myself grabbing my pocket to make sure it hadn't fallen out.
The wifi-calling was a great value add.
The screen was fantastic. My next phone will have to have a qhd or better display (no sgsII for me). Say what you want about contrast ratios, but I rarely use my phone outside. Having the extra pixels however was absolutely awesome for browsing the web. The extra pixels also made living without a hardware keyboard a little bit easier to bare *(when in portrait mode).
The unlock page that came with sense 3.0. Other than that sense just seemed to get in my way.
FM radio. I'm the guy who wants to watch and listen to the tv-s at the gym.
Why I just could risk spending 2 years with it.
I had no reception at my house or work on t-mo. This is really the biggest reason why I had to return my phone.
Because of the above the cell radio was draining the battery attempting to connect to the networks. I really don't want to spend two years having to remember to turn off the cell radio every time I get home.
T-mobile support was an exercise in frustration to deal with.
Will I still even get 3g/4g service in 2 years? This is debatable. AT&T will have to repurpose some of T-mo's spectrum from somewhere.
The built-in picasa upload is broken *(I use this all the time).
No way to jump to the galery app when in camera mode. This seems like a really obvious omission.
The speakephone volume over wifi calling really shouldn't be considered a speakerphone at all. I couldn't test speakerphone over t-mo because I never had reception when I wanted to make a call.
There was no setting to auto disable the cell radio when connected over wi-fi and wi-fi calling was enabled. I admit this is a nit-pick, but it really would have been nice.
I counted at least 3 backup apps all of which were trying to send my contacts to different parts of the world. Why do I need to backup any of my contacts? For me everything is in google, that's why I want an android phone. The killer part about this is that these apps will suck your battery dry.
Currently no way to remove all the crap-ware that t-mo stuffs it's phones with. There is a lot of it. I bet that is why there is so much discussion about the a performance problem between the sensation and the evo 3d screen rotate speed.
No NFC. Not really a deal-breaker, but it is disappointing.
So give me a non-bloatwared, boot-loader unlocked sensation, add NFC, put it on a carrier that gives me reception, and I'll have my next phone. As for now I'll have to live with my rooted/ cyanogen-modded G1 on AT&T.
--troll away!--
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
- Also to the OP: A bunch of these problems are fixable with root, also there is a way to go to the gallery from the stock camera app... and even if there wasn't why wouldn't you just DL a camera app from market that would allow you to do what you wanted?
- Turn off the other contacts backup services... I did
- Why wouldn't you have 4g in 2 years? 4G will actually be much faster in two years and will be approaching "actual" 4G speeds.
- You couldnt do a one click disable of the cell radio while on wifi and wifi calling was enabled because that happens automatically.
- Speakerphone was too low on wifi calling? Wow, that's probably fixable as well.
- And if you have a smart phone YOU will need to learn how to manage its battery life. The Sensation actually does have preeettty good battery life for a smartphone.
Cheers, good luck on ATT we'll all probably be there next year anyway.
Thats def not a good experience; as you say it sounds mostly coverage related which is the case for most carriers. Tmo has always been good to me where ive lived (4g here where i work and around my home).
Every phone/network won't work for everyone. Although the NFC is something that initially gave me pause, but I really don't see that being something i won't be able to live without in just 2 years; it's barely rolled out; not to mention text transactions and CC soda machines are also on the rise.
I am personally a little annoyed with how sense handles (or doesn't) the picasa gallery (Why can't i make a slide show with my picasa stuff).
Enjoy your G1 even with cyanogen; not sure I could go back THAT far even if I had crappy service
I am missing my MIUI though, still running my N1 with MIUI latest and it's been getting amazingly robust the past few updates (5 way unlock specifically).
I believe the Cell Radios turn off when you activate WiFi calling. And I have a way to get to the gallery from my camera app...
A G1 though?! I'd rather take all the cons you listed than go all the way back to that poor thing, on EDGE no less. G1 was awesome back in the day, but now you're just torturing the poor thing.
npoc said:
So give me a non-bloatwared, boot-loader unlocked sensation, add NFC, put it on a carrier that gives me reception, and I'll have my next phone. As for now I'll have to live with my rooted/ cyanogen-modded G1 on AT&T.
--troll away!--
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unless you buy an unlocked manufacturer phone from overseas your stuck with carrier bloatware and hardware/software changes. That or one of the Nexus series. And your only choice for NFC right now is Nexus. So I think we've found your next phone.
B3astofthe3ast said:
I believe the Cell Radios turn off when you activate WiFi calling. And I have a way to get to the gallery from my camera app...
A G1 though?! I'd rather take all the cons you listed than go all the way back to that poor thing, on EDGE no less. G1 was awesome back in the day, but now you're just torturing the poor thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm pretty sure i had to manually disable the cell radios if I wanted them off when on wi-fi. It did however route my calls over wi-fi automatically. It did not automatically turn off my cell radio when wi-fi calling was enabled. When I was at work or at home, the power graph was pretty ugly with the cell radios on.
BonesRed said:
Lulz irony abounds, he missed a conjunction and you omitted a word from your sentence, pointing out his omitted conjunction @[email protected]
- Also to the OP: A bunch of these problems are fixable with root, also there is a way to go to the gallery from the stock camera app... and even if there wasn't why wouldn't you just DL a camera app from market that would allow you to do what you wanted?
- Turn off the other contacts backup services... I did
- Why wouldn't you have 4g in 2 years? 4G will actually be much faster in two years and will be approaching "actual" 4G speeds.
- You couldnt do a one click disable of the cell radio while on wifi and wifi calling was enabled because that happens automatically.
- Speakerphone was too low on wifi calling? Wow, that's probably fixable as well.
- And if you have a smart phone YOU will need to learn how to manage its battery life. The Sensation actually does have preeettty good battery life for a smartphone.
Cheers, good luck on ATT we'll all probably be there next year anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I said the big reason I had to return it was poor reception.
Being a t-mo customer you are not guaranteed anything over the next 2 years. AT&T is trying to acquire t-mo to repurpose some of t-mo's spectrum. What part of their owned spectrum is anyone's guess
I agree that all the firmware issues are fixable, but they are still annoyances that I shouldn't have to deal with. I don't know how long it will take for HTC to unlock the sensation's bootloader or for someone to get root on the phone, but I had 14 days to make a decision on whether I wanted to be stuck with a 2 year contract. The speakerphone is a firmware deal-breaker for me atm, as I do have to use my phone for conference calls.
As for me my current plan is to find a recent boot-loader unlocked AT&T *cough* 4g compatible phone on craigslist, and then sign a contract on ATT or VZ when the right phone comes up.
in settings, there is an option to what you want it to do...cell preferred, wi-fi preferred, or wifi only
woldy2 said:
in settings, there is an option to what you want it to do...cell preferred, wi-fi preferred, or wifi only
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You completely missed the point. Wi-fi was preferred, but it leaves the cell radio on which drains battery. Better luck next time.
npoc said:
I'm pretty sure i had to manually disable the cell radios if I wanted them off when on wi-fi. It did however route my calls over wi-fi automatically. It did not automatically turn off my cell radio when wi-fi calling was enabled. When I was at work or at home, the power graph was pretty ugly with the cell radios on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I get pretty good service even though I live in a basement (I was barely getting any bars on Sprint and Verizon before that). However, I still use WiFi calling to maximize my battery life (and it's working), and I use a Tasker profile to automate turning on wifi, turning off cell radio when it detect the cell towers by my house and my wifi ssid.
relic419 said:
I get pretty good service even though I live in a basement (I was barely getting any bars on Sprint and Verizon before that). However, I still use WiFi calling to maximize my battery life (and it's working), and I use a Tasker profile to automate turning on wifi, turning off cell radio when it detect the cell towers by my house and my wifi ssid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good suggestion, I will have to use that if I ever go back to T-Mo. Still, T-Mo should have made that a setting in their app.
I am about to return mine after 4 days of use. I love the phone and will be exchanging it for a new one.
Mine has started randomly making calls while sitting on my desk charging, The unlock ring started bouncing around the screen when I unlocked it and I had to turn off phone to get it to stop, it can charge all night long and still only show 75%, and I am dropping calls. Not what I want from a $600 device. I hope my second one is up to par. I have never had to exchange a phone with Tmobile before for these reasons.
A few notes.
If you used WiFi calling you wouldn't have to (nor CAN you) turn off the radio. It doesn't drain the battery in WiFi calling mode, you know nothing about how it works.
I upload to Picasa no problem.
Speakerphone volume is always low, the speakerphone sucks.
AT&T support and/or customer service is horrible. If you are speaking with a regular T-Mobile rep (one that does NOT introduce themselves as Android or PDA support) for phone issues you are speaking to the WRONG representative.
I couldn't ever see my self going back to a G1, may as well get out the bag phone again
I'm coming from Sprint and switched to T-Mobile primarily because of WiFi-Calling, and secondly because of the HTC Sensation. Not a single carrier has signal inside my apartment unit. Sprint gave me an Airave which works well for about a year, but recently started giving me problem where I cannot hear the caller, but the caller can hear me most of the time. With T-Mobile's WiFi-Calling, it works all the time. The sound quality may not be the greatest, but acceptable enough that I can have a conversation using it over an hour. On a full charge, 0 bar signal, using WiFi-Calling for almost half an hour, I did not see a drop on my battery charge, not even 1%, last time I checked.
I'm sad to leave Sprint, but T-Mo's WiFi-Calling is unbeatable, specially when travelling overseas.
I thought I had my weak wi-fi problem licked, by using "wi-fi best performance" in the settings.This is my second Sensation, I took one back for awful wi-fi and speaker, this one no better even after discovering the "best performace" setting.
I first took the sensation to a Mickey D's nearby, as I know they have wi-fi. Not a blip. I tried with and w/o "best performance", nothing, nada, I parked right next to where customers would sit, as well as tried a couple other areas in the lot. Nothing at all when I scanned.
I then went to another McD's. Pretty much same thing, even though one spot in the lot, I got 1 bar/poor, but not stable to make a connection. I assumed it was theirs, but maybe not,didn't say Wayport or attws. I also parked as close as I could to a sports bar that has wi-fi, again not a blip. I was inside that sports bar the other night, and even though it seemed to get a decent wi-fi signal inside, kept saying "page not found". If I used 2/3/4 G (actually only 2G was working in there), I could get web pages.
I came home after my first trip to McD's, grabbed my laptop, my Sensation, as well as my original HTC Dash, which I decided to try a unused SIM card in. I couldn't make calls of course, but I could connect to wi-fi at my house.
So I set sail with all 3 devices. I went back to the first McD's I tried a half hour earlier, and parked again right outside where the customers sit. Good to excellent signal on the laptop. A consistent 1 bar signal on the Dash, but stable and functional, and it definitely showed McD's sign in page - attws hotspot plus a Wayport icon showing also. The Sensation - not even a hint of wi-fi service again.
Any updates or hacks that will make the wi-fi more normal?
Or else the thing is going back. If I have to eat $50 for the T-Mo store restocking fee, so be it, but now I'm reading people are getting phones from Best Buy and Costo (I assume Sam's Club maybe too) and getting pretty long periods to try them out and no restocking fee. So I may do that. The T-Mo store is 14 days, and I had the first Sensation 7 days, plus the new one 4 so far. Thanks.
I agree 100%. My wife's Vibrant gets 3 bars strong from my bedroom (where the wifi is) to my living room, my Vibrant only gets one bar, and often just disconnects all together???? WTF???? Not so Sensational right? I hope a better ROM or some kind of fix becomes available soon.
Look guys, there are already dozens of threads on this. Can you repost this in one of those?
Just trying to avoid clutter
Thanks guys
BW
I am curious as to how the phones signal has been for those that own it. I currently have the S3 and have had it since launch but don't like how it gets stuck in 3g or 1x when losing 4g temporarily even though I know i'm back into a good 4g area. Overall signal is good but the transfer between 1x/3g back to 4g is terrible and my next phone i'm hoping to avoid all the frustration.
I have thought of buying the moto x just because its motorola and they're known for good radios. I have some time and am thinking of waiting until the moto x2 or g3 but its one of those things where why wait if it's good.
Thanks in advance.
zim2704 said:
I am curious as to how the phones signal has been for those that own it. I currently have the S3 and have had it since launch but don't like how it gets stuck in 3g or 1x when losing 4g temporarily even though I know i'm back into a good 4g area. Overall signal is good but the transfer between 1x/3g back to 4g is terrible and my next phone i'm hoping to avoid all the frustration.
I have thought of buying the moto x just because its motorola and they're known for good radios. I have some time and am thinking of waiting until the moto x2 or g3 but its one of those things where why wait if it's good.
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be honest with you. Samsung has the worst radios. I had an s3 and it dropped signal too many times. I then got the HTC DNA and it was so much better. I believe HTC has a way better radio than Samsung.
My All New One
I was kind of concerned about this too before I bought mine. I come from a long list of Moto phones. The only non Moto phone I've had was a Rezound. I had it for all of one day. The darn thing would only ring probably 1 out of 4 calls I received. 1 out of 3 if I was lucky. I took it back the day after I bought it and they looked at it and told me there was nothing wrong with it. Well, I've never had a problem like that in my house with any Moto phone. So, I told them to keep it and went home with a Razr Maxx. You can see why I was concerned.
Anyway, I have to say, this phone has the best radio or at least the best reception of any phone I've owned. I work in an area that is quite iffy as far as a signal goes and my Moto phones would hold a pretty good signal there but depending on where I was at any given time, I would lose the signal and have to walk around a bit to get it back. In the shop there, forget it. I pretty much had nothing. The signal on this phone shows it's slightly weaker at work than my Maxx but it's worked flawlessly for me out there. I can even take it in the shop and it works great. Signal is weak but somehow it seems to hang onto it. Listened to Tune In Radio for 5 hours in there today and never lost the signal once.
I also went to a town today where it's worse than at work. My Moto phones there would work but constantly on and off. I was listening to Tune In there today too and it did have one hiccup for 10 seconds or so but that was it in a half hour's time. But, that doesn't surprise me in that location. What does surprise me is that it only stopped once. No way any of my Moto phones would do that well there. Anyway, maybe I'm just lucky but I'm extremely pleased with mine and don't regret buying it at all.
The old faithful LTE ON/OFF FOR thunderbolt app still works like a charm to control the radio bands on an HTC phone.
Highly recommend to install to force lte or 3g when needed.
The S3 in particular had a wretched radio, I couldn't get signal for the life of me in my house. Verizon ended up replacing it for me with a Note 2 which was better in many regards. The radio so far on the M8 has blown the note 2 out of the water, it doesn't even compare. I get a steady 10-20 asu improvement over what I used to get with the note 2 in most situations.
Liking what I've read so far.
Been so so for me. I've always had ATT and personally only had bad reception in my home. Almost anywhere else I had 4g LTE everywhere. Never saw Edge connection, worst was 3G.
I just switched to Verizon for this device when it came out so first time with Verizon. I get better 4g LTE connection at home but I've noticed in stores I get only 1x (is this Edge type of network compared to AT&T?) Or maybe 1-2 bars of 3G. Only get 4G LTE when outdoors. Even inside huge Target, Wal-Mart, whatever get cfao reception when on AT&T this was never an issue. This might be a carrier thing though, nothing to do with this device but again nothing to compare to, first device and time on Verizon network. Surprising too living in southern California where LTE is literally everywhere here. Actually had much higher hopes for Verizon network, feeling let done here.